evaluating adoption of electronic banking (e-banking

Evaluating adoption of electronic banking (e-banking), during the

Covid 19 era: A discourse of barriers facing banking clients, in the

Zimbabwean context.

Nyasha Madziro¹and Hlanganani Ncube²

¹ Graduate school of business, Zimbabwe Open University

² Department of Accounting and Auditing, Zimbabwe Open University

Key words: Electronic banking; internet banking; telephone banking, e-banking adoption

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus has forced the Zimbabwean government to impose aggressive

lock downs strict travel restrictions since march 2020, leaving only essential services partly

functioning. All individuals were forced to do their work and transact while at home. In

addition, Zimbabwean banks have up-to-date e-banking facilities, but yet ques are still

existence in the banking halls without regard to the call to stay at home. It is against this

background that this study aims to discuss the barriers facing banking customers in adopting

electronic banking during the Covid 19 era. The study applied mixed methodology approach

where questionnaires were used to collect statistical data while interviews were administered

to collect qualitative data. Stratified random sampling was used to select the sample for

questionnaires while purposive sampling was used for selecting respondents for interviews.

The study found out that among others age, cost, access, risk and other economic behaviours

are barriers to adoption of e-banking facilities by banking clients. Conclusions made were that

e-banking is not cost effective in the hands of banking customers, economic challenges prevent

banking customers from adopting e-banking and Hwange banking customers are not

conforming to the lock down rules imposed by the government

GSJ: Volume 9, Issue 3, March 2021 ISSN 2320-9186 828

GSJ© 2021 www.globalscientificjournal.com

GSJ: Volume 9, Issue 3, March 2021, Online: ISSN 2320-9186 www.globalscientificjournal.com

Introduction

Embracing internet and telephone banking (e-banking) by individual banking customers is

inevitable during the novel corona virus (covid 19) era in Zimbabwe and beyond. Most banks

in Zimbabwe have put in place varying self-service technology (SST) applications for use by

its customers which includes among others automated teller machines (ATM), internet

banking, real time gross settlements (RTGS), and mobile banking (Mutengezwana and Mauchi

2013) and today most of the banking transactions can be done anywhere and at any time. The

services, for instance, in Hwange, banks like Agribank, Stanbic, and CABS are linked to

websites and mobile phone networks which allow customers to check account balances, receive

payments and transfer money over the internet.

Since establishment, most Zimbabwean banks have been offering their services over the

counter, referred to as traditional banking where bank customers had to physically visit the

bank branch for any transaction they needed to process (Makanyeza & Chikazhe, 2017). This

type of service delivery was characterised by very long queues in the banking halls, time

consuming and associated with high rate of human errors. Waiting time in queues resulted in

customer inconveniences and proved costly for both the customer and the bank.

The increasing need and use of technology have led to changes in almost all the aspects of life

from business, social to communication on a day-to-day basis (Dube, Chitura, & Runyowa,

2009). The internet has drastically changed the way in which most businesses operate in the

world, be it product development or service delivery. This implies that technology has

completely changed the way of doing business and banking has not been an exception. In the

Zimbabwean business community, internet banking has facilitated quite a number of business

transactions, for example in retailing, tourism, agriculture, mining industries just to mention a

few. The introduction of SST has occurred across a range of industries such as hotels

(Automated check in and check out facilities), Petrol stations (Pay at the pump facilities),

Supermarkets (Self scan and pay systems), Airlines (Self-service boarding pass dispensers) and

banks (Automated teller machines, internet banking etc.). Most businesses are actually moving

along with time and technology and are adopting these SST applications in their day to day

running of the business. It may be evident that SST help to improve service excellence,

flexibility, offer reliable services and most importantly to cut on costs among other benefits to

both banking institutions and clients.



The principal usage of e-banking in Zimbabwe has been for checking account balances,

payment of bills and funds transfers (Mavaza, 2019). The adoption process (Dube, Chitura, &

Runyowa, 2009) of e-banking by banks was troubled by many obstacles such as cost of

implementation and security fears amongst others and to date some banks are failing to

maintain an effective e-banking system. Although e-banking usage in Zimbabwe has improved

since 2009, the adoption is still lower as compared to developed countries.

Moreover, the adoption of e-banking has been catalysed by the novel coronavirus outbreak

announced by the World Health Organisation in March 2020. Zimbabwe as one of the affected

nations, has been pushed to a number of nation lock downs (Matsungo and Chopera 2020)

since 20 March 2020 in order to contain the spread of the pandemic. With the exception of

essential services, which includes banks, all other economic sectors were closed, coupled with

restricted movements, social distancing and stay at home mantra. The transacting banking

clients were forced to use e-banking facilities while at the comfort of their homes.

Despite the extent of e-banking technology adoption by banks in Zimbabwe, and the stay at

home regulations induced by the Coronavirus outbreak, banking individuals are still frequently

visiting the banking halls for banking services in Hwange and other parts of the country. This

study therefore seeks to unearth the reasons why customers are failing to embrace self-service

technologies available in the banking sector.

Statement of the problem

In the era of the novel corona virus outbreak, characterised by endless lockdowns and where

people are forced to stay at home, queues of people seeking banking services are still witnessed

at banking halls in Hwange and other parts of the country. This is happening despite the fact

that all Zimbabwean banks have, in the past decade adopted economically driven e-banking

facilities, in the form of both internet and mobile banking which can serve interests of their

clients during this outbreak. Banking halls are now high risk areas of spreading the deadly virus

and it is still unclear why the banking community is not embracing e-banking facilities, to carry

out their transactions while in the comfort of their homes, instead opt to congest at banking

halls increasing the chances of contracting the deadly virus.



Research Objective

To investigate barriers, preventing banking individuals to adopt e-banking in Zimbabwe during

Corona Virus outbreak.

Research question

What are the barriers preventing adoption of e-banking by banking individuals during the

corona virus outbreak?

Literature review: E-banking in brief

According to Basel Committee on banking supervision, (2004) E-banking is defined as the

provision of retail and small value banking products and services through electronic channels.

Such products and services can include deposit taking, lending, account management, the

provision of financial advice, electronic bill payment, and the provision of other electronic

payment products and services such as electronic money. Guided by this definition, the

researcher strongly believes that E-banking services are aimed at achieving ease of transacting.

The term "electronic banking" or "e-banking" covers both computer and telephone banking. It

may be viewed as the use of information and communication technology by banks to provide

services and manage customer relationship more quickly and most satisfactorily (Allen and

Hamilton,2002). The attribute of e-banking is that it provides electronic connection between

the bank and the customer in order to prepare, manage and control financial transactions.

E-banking is broad in scope, and the researcher understands that it as a banking facility meant

to achieve customer satisfaction. It includes systems that enable financial institutions,

customers, individuals and businesses, to access accounts, transact business, or obtain

information on financial products and services through public or private networks, including

the internet as alluded to by (Lustsik, 2004). Customers access e-banking services using

intelligent electronic devices, such as personal computers (PC), personal digital assistants

(PDA), automated teller machines (ATM). Private networks, "closed" restrict access to

participants (financial institutions, customers, merchants, and third-party service providers)

bound by agreement on the terms of membership (Lustsik, 2004). Public networks, "open"

have no such membership requirements. Hence given the above, the researcher is of the view

that, E-banking has unique characteristics that may increase an institution's overall risk profile

which were minimal with traditional financial services, particularly, strategic, operational,



legal, and reputation risks. The researcher posits that, electronic banking is a form of banking

in which funds are transferred through an exchange of electronic signals rather than through an

exchange of cash, checks, or other types of paper documents. Fig 1 below demonstrate the

concept of E-banking from the researcher’s understanding.

Figure 1.0: E-banking and its variables

Barriers to adoption of e-banking

Adoption can be defined as “the acceptance and continued use of a product, service or idea”

(Hussen and Saad, 2016). The critical question is whether since the outbreak of the novel

corona virus, banking customers will accept e-banking, hence the commission of this study.

Many researchers have conducted researches to determine the various factors that are

influencing the customers to adopt new technology/ internet banking. These factors include

awareness, knowledge of new development, that is, computer/internet knowledge,

accessibility, security concerns, risk, ease of use, cost concern, traditional prospective,

psychological factors (Mutengezwana and Mauchi 2013). Because of these factors the

researcher believes that development and adoptability of internet banking is very slow in many

Information

technology

Culture

Accessibility

Risk

System

complexity

Reluctance to

change

Awareness

Cost

Bank E-banking

C

U

S

T

O

M

E

R

S

E

R

V

I

C

E



of the semi-urban and urban areas. New technology adoption by the majority of the customers

depends mainly on following factors:

Awareness: Acceptance a new product has always been difficult for many consumers of

products and services. The consumers need to be convinced for them to confirm use of a new

product or service and (Mazana, Rupere and Kabanda 2012; Mutengezwana and Mauchi 2013)

emphasized that adoption consumers must become aware of new brand. Lack of awareness is

the most important factor that provides a barrier to adoption of Internet banking. It is for this

reason that in areas where awareness campaigns are not being implemented, there are low

levels of utilization of internet banking.

System Complexity: Tan Sin et al, (2010) identifies “ease of use” as one of the three important

characteristics from customer’s perspective for adoption of innovative service. The researcher

understands ease of use of a system as having clear well defined, few steps when carrying out

an online transaction. Himmoud, et al (2018) studies in Lebanon found that system complexity

is one of the barriers for customer acceptance internet banking. He argued that if the system is

simple to operate, in relation to customers’ general capabilities, it is easily accepted. A study

conducted by a company called Cyber Dialogue has revealed that as many as 3.1 million USA

adults have discontinued their use of online banking because they found the service was too

complex and were dissatisfied with the level of customer service. It is therefore crucial for the

Internet to be easy to use (Makosana, 2014) to increase the adoption rate of Internet banking

since the understanding of consumers is an important element for the diffusion of innovation

technology. For successful implementation of Internet banking, banks must ensure that the

services are simple, easy and of sufficiently high quality to ensure customer satisfaction in

order to maintain online customers.

Security: The systems that are developed to improve the banking systems are the same

systems again used in developing electronic fraud. Electronic crime which includes spamming,

credit card fraud, ATM fraud, (Dzomira, 2014; Bamrara, Singh and Bahtt 2013), is one of the

major barriers to adoption of internet banking. Security concerns are keeping both consumers

and bankers away from Internet banking implying that some individuals do not consider

electronic banking as they believe it to be a high risk platform. Many banking customers have

a perception that their information is not safe like the pin number, transaction history and their



balances. Unless e-banking system security is improved, and customers are convinced, more

households will not be willing to conduct their transactions over the Internet. Gerrard et al

(2006) conducted study in Australia found that security concerns were discovered as the main

cause for the slow growth of Internet banking in the country hence the researcher strongly

believes that where security is guaranteed consumers will be ready to take up business online.

Cost: Price/costs is one of the single most important factors that influences the consumer

adoption of innovation as backed by the study concluded by (Mutengezwana and Mauchi 2013)

which found that cost is a characteristic of Internet banking. If consumers are to use new

technologies, they must be reasonably priced relative to alternatives. Otherwise, the acceptance

of the new technology may not be viable from the standpoint of the consumer. Hence the

researcher holds it that millions of users are now turning their backs on the Internet due to its

limitations and high access charges.

Accessibility: The studies of Himmoud, et al (2018) and Mavaza, (2019) found that lack of

access to computers is one of the reasons for slow adoption of Internet banking. Daniel (2010)

study in UK reveals that lack of customer access to suitable PCs as the main reason for low

usage of electronic banking. In the same view the researcher believed that accessibility is one

of the main reasons for non-adoption of Internet banking due to unavailability of one or more

of Information technology infrastructure, technology gadgets and accessories and relevant

education for most Zimbabwean banking population.

Remarkable research has been done on barriers to adoption of internet banking (Mutengezwana

and Mauchi 2013; Nasim Z, 2009; Manzano et al,2009; Mavaza, 2019), and the studies resulted

on the barriers summarised above. The socio-economic twists and turns, has resulted in

informal economic re-dollarization coupled with the outbreak of the novel corona virus, hence

an urgent need for a fresh study to look into the cultural, economic effects and technological

infrastructure influences on adoption of e-banking in some parts of the country.

Research Methodology

In this mixed approach research, a descriptive design was used to study the banking customers

in Hwange, on the barriers to adoption of e-banking for all the three banks available. A

proportionate random sample from the three banks was selected from a population which was

first stratified in terms of age group, to ensure all ages are proportionately represented with



CABS, AGRIBANK and STANBIC banks contributing 44,8%, 37,3% and 17,9% of the 6700

customers respectively. A quantitative questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data and

it was distributed both personally and through email to 200 selected sample of respondents

from which 180 were returned. In collecting qualitative data, interviews were administered to

25 purposively selected respondents based on the proportion to total customers for three banks.

Quantitative data was presented using charts and tables, and analysed using simple statistical

methods. With the exception of demographic data which was included in quantitative

presentation, all other qualitative data was analysed into themes which were corresponding to

quantitative data questions, and presented as narratives.

Data presentation and discussion

Demographic and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Respondents

The researcher analysed the data from demographic and socio-economic respondents such as

level of age and academic qualifications so as to find out whether their characteristics have a

relationship with usage of internet and telephone banking. The study initially held that, the

adoption of internet and telephone banking is basically affected by demographic and social-

economic factors such as age and level of education as supported by Navaratnaseelan and

Elangkumaran (2014).

Figure 2.0 Age of respondents

Figure 6 above shows that most of the respondents are between the age of 41-50 years with a

percentage of 28 % followed by 31-40 years age range which has 26%.The middle class seemed



to dominate since they are likely to be working class or precisely put the group is economically

active and so many regularly visits banks to access their cash since their salaries will be

deposited into the banks, unlike the Pension group which is above 60 years with the least

respondents of 7% they now have little to access to the banks.

Education level of respondents

Figure 3.0: Level of Education

In order to establish the level of knowledge of personnel involved in the usage of internet

banking, the respondents were asked to disclose their highest educational qualifications. The

results obtained reveals that 45% of the respondents at least attained a degree qualification,

followed by 33% with Diploma level and are formally employed. The 22% on the other

category consist of respondents with no educational qualifications, some of which only attained

the secondary level. From the observation, none of the respondents have the primary education

as the highest education level, and this shows that the respondents are educated enough to

understand the research questions in the questionnaire so as to appropriately respond.




The researcher sought to find out the nature of barriers that prevent adoption of e-banking in

the Hwange community within the framework of Covid 19 regulations. The results are shown

in figure 2.0 below.

Figure 4.0: Barriers to adoption of electronic banking

The majority of respondents (25%) indicated that they do not have enough access to e-banking

facilities. The major concern was on unavailability of gadgets, and internet connection due to

lack of funding as established through interviews. The results are consistent with the findings

of Himmoud, et al (2018) and Mavaza, (2019). In addition, the age factor also appears to be a

barrier as indicated by 20% of the respondents but however the extent of the effect to the

Hwange community is discussed in the following paragraphs. The results are in tandem with

the findings of Mutengezwana and Mauchi (2013) who held that ages between 26 to 45 are

more likely to adopt e-banking than ages which are more than that.

20

25

17

13

7

16

20

5

10

15

20

25

30

Age Access Cost Risk Complexity economicdevelopments

Other

PER

CEN

TAG

E R

ESP

ON

DEN

TS

BARRIERS




The transaction costs as indicated by 17% of the respondents is also one of the major barriers.

Both the government and banking institutions are overburdening e-banking users through the

2% transaction tax and prohibitive ordinary transaction charges respectively. E-banking

transactions become too expensive when compared to cash transactions, which forces the

banking clients to seek cash at the banking halls. This habit is further aggravated by the

disconnection of most ATMs.

Economic developments were captured from 16% of the respondents as one of the barriers.

This was also captured on interviews and the respondents indicated that they visit the banks in

search of cash to buy their needs especially when some forms of electronic payments are

rejected. Some indicated that cash give them advantage over the three tier pricing currently

prevailing in the commodity market, that is, varying price for Zimbabwe dollar, United States

dollar and electronic money (swipe/ecocash) for the same commodity.

Of the other causes, represented by 2% of the respondents, the researcher was interested in

societal culture, the barrier which was also captured during interviews. The Hwange

community perceives culturally that adopting e-banking exposes your bank account to hacking

especially with internet banking. The respondents however acknowledge that they are receiving

some information on the safe e-banking adoption tips from their bankers.

Relationship between age and resistance to e-banking

The researcher sought to find out if there is a relationship between age and resistance of e-

banking. A statistical, Chi –Square test was used to test the relationship of variables. The Chi-

Square test of association was conducted at 5% confidence interval to determine whether

there was a relationship between age and resistance of electronic banking using the following

hypothesis.

Ho-There is no relationship between age and resistance of electronic banking?

H1- There is a relationship between age and resistance of electronic banking?

If P>0.05 Accept Ho; Reject H1

If P<0.05 Accept H1; Reject Ho



Table 1.0: Correlations between age and resistance of electronic banking

Age

Resistance of

electronic

banking

Age Pearson Correlation 1 .745**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

Sum of Squares and Cross-

products

143.040 36.920

Covariance 1.445 .373

N 200 200

Resistance of electronic

banking

Pearson Correlation .745** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

Sum of Squares and Cross-

products

36.920 17.160

Covariance .373 .173

N 200 200

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).



Therefore, since 0.05> correlation significant of 0.01, We do accept H1 and Reject H0. This

means there is a strong correlation between Age of users and resistance of electronic banking.

The researcher also looked at the Covariance of the two variables and observed that both Age

and resistance of electronic banking had a positive Covariance of 1.445 and 0.373 respectively,

providing an insight into how these two variables are related to one another. This suggest that

age goes with resistance to e-banking, and the younger ages have lower resistance as alluded

to, by Mutengezanwa and Mauchi (2013).

Extent to which age prohibits adoption of e-banking

The researcher sought to find out the extent to which age prohibits the adoption of e-banking.

The demographic information was analysed, together with the extent of computer or internet

literacy of respondents and the results are shown in table 1.0 below. All figures are expressed

as a percentage of the total population.

18-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 Above 60 Total

Degree holders 5 13 18 8 1 45

Diploma/Certificate 6 4 10 11 2 33

Secondary 6 7 5 4 - 22

Computer/internet

literacy

17 24 28 12 1 82

Though there is a positive correlation of age and resistance to internet banking, the results show

that the age barrier is not affecting the Hwange banking community to a greater extent as

indicated by an 82% computer and internet literacy. The results are consistent with the

educational demographics of respondents, with the more knowledgeable, degree and diploma

holders constituting 78% of respondents. With the age and resistance to e-banking relationship

in mind, the research results indicate that respondents above 50 years of age have significant

resistance to e-banking as supported by age demographics whereas respondents aged 50 years

and below are more adaptable.

Conclusions

In light of the findings, the researcher concludes that e-banking is not cost effective in the hands

of customers. Transaction costs are far more than what the customers expect. Banks are also



unable to formulate effective marketing strategies tailor made for their computer literate

Hwange community banking clients to convince them on security and ease of use of their e-

banking facilities.

The researcher further concludes that the current economic challenges are preventing banking

customers from adopting e-banking as customers’ rush to banks in search of hard currency to

transact, which to many is too little to afford them e-banking gadgets and required connectivity.

Lastly the researcher concludes that the Hwange banking customers are not conforming to the

lock down rules imposed by the government to stay at home during the novel corona virus

outbreak, hence risk the spread of infections in search of banking services at banking halls.

Recommendations

Bank officials must embrace Covid 19 in their marketing strategies and encourage its clients

to stay at home. Their marketing strategy should be designed in such a way that they target

their computer literate banking individuals and convince them facility security and ease of use.



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Authors` Information

1. Nyasha Madziro

Graduate School of Business

Faculty of Commerce and Law

Zimbabwe Open University

2. Hlanganani Ncube

Department of Accounting and Auditing

Faculty of Commerce and Law

Zimbabwe Open University



https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMC.2010.034935

evaluating adoption of electronic banking (e-banking

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